The Green-State Playbook

Here are five ways states can save climate policy despite Trump.

Nearly half of U.S. states, with more than half the U.S. population, have made climate pledges.  Trump’s election is a body blow to U.S. climate policy, but there are ways that those states can fight Trump and, importantluy, also move forward on their own plans. I’ve posted a new paper on states as havens for climate policy.  The paper goes into a lot more detail about the strategies and legal issues. But to cut to the chase, here are five key strategies for green states.

1. Sue Trump. Then sue him again.  California and other states filed more than a hundred lawsuits against Trump in his first term. They need to do it again. Trump had a terrible litigation record last time. It might improve a bit this time, but he’s still likely to lose more cases than he wins.
2. Defend California’s car waiver. Transportation is now the largest source of carbon emission in the U.S. Normally, only the federal EPA can regulate tailpipe emissions from vehicles. But there’s an exception that allows California to regulate if it gets a waiver from EPA, and then allows other states to piggyback on California standards.  Trump is almost certain to revoke the waiver on legal grounds, and states need to fight back hard on this issue.
3. Partner with the private sector. When Trump tried to take away the California waiver last time, some major car companies made a deal with California: they got a little bit of a break on the regulatory side, but in return agreed to obey the standards even if California lost in court. This was a creative move, and there’s more that can be done along those lines.  States can also use green banks and other methods to nurture clean energy innovation.
4. Don’t get in your own way. States have big plans to expand clean energy, but then they trip themselves up because projects get bogged down in permitting delays and local restrictions.  States need to rethink their laws to streamline the process and get projects built and operating.  Luckily, some states are making progress on this, and other states can learn lessons from their efforts.
5. Take some jabs across state lines. One of the things that Red States did under Biden was to challenge laws they didn’t like in Blue States and go after firms whose policies they didn’t like.  Blue states have politely refrained from that kind of aggressive action. But that needs to change. Turnabout is fair play.

I won’t pretend that these actions are a panacea.  Scientists and economists are clear on the need for climate action, and we will pay a price for a federal government that ignores them.  But states can do a lot to limit the damage.

Caifornia car waiver, green banks, Litigation, permitting reform, regulatory rollbacks, state climate policy, states, Transportation, Trump Administration